


Returning to the Forest

by WrittenByBlueJay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss, Machines, Magic, Mischief, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 18:26:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15176669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenByBlueJay/pseuds/WrittenByBlueJay
Summary: George Weasley returns to the Forbidden Forest to test out a new invention. After catching up with Hagrid he finds that the machines had worked.





	Returning to the Forest

               A sparrow sung its song to no one in particular from a tree on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Its gentle song was greeted by the periodic impact of an ax being used to chop wood coming from a short distance away. Afternoon was slowly giving way to the twilight of evening and the shadows cast by the forest were crawling towards Hagrid’s humble hut. A small plume of smoke coming from the chimney which snaked its way out from the thatched roof suggested that Hagrid was preparing for one of the first cold evenings of the year. It had been unseasonably warm in October, but now that November was here Autumn was reminding the world just how cold the winter would be.

                The Bird's song abruptly stopped as a man approached the edge of the forest. He took off his hat as he neared the first tree and squinted at the sun gauging how much time he had left before it became too dark to reasonably be in the Forest. As a child he had become unreasonably familiar with the region, which was home to an assortment of creatures and beings which were either aggressively violent or naturally deadly. While he hadn’t forgotten his way around the forest, he wasn’t stupid enough to go traipsing around the forest by himself.

                George Weasley hung his hat on a broken branch from a nearby tree and was startled when it disturbed a bird that had been roosting further up in the tree. He tracked the bird as it arched through the sky to land on a scarecrow in Hagrid’s Garden. George produced a bag that writhed a little while he held it up, checking to make sure none of its contents had escaped during his brief trip from Diagon Ally to Hogsmeade by flu powder. Satisfied at his assessment of its integrity, he squatted in the grass while upturning its contents in his hand. Small, spider-like constructs skittered free from the bag and spilled over his out stretched hand to fall a short distance to the neat lawn beneath. The evening sun splintered off the glittering bodies as they climbed over each other, creating a semblance of flowing water babbling over rocks.

                “Alright you lot.” George stood up and tapped his wand against a larger mechanical spider which he had managed to keep in his hand. The spiders that had started to spread out across the Hogwarts grounds came suddenly became very still in anticipation to the order they were about to receive.

                “Go get it.” He tapped the spider again which kicked the hoard of spiders crawling over each other again, this time with an obvious direction. George watched his creations crawl into the forest until he couldn’t see them anymore. He collected his hat from the tree and his bag from the ground and turned to greet the heavy footsteps that he felt were coming towards him.

                “Back at it again George?” Hagrid had brought his ax with him which might have been intimidating it was carried by a normal person, but in the hands of a half giant it looked like a toy. Despite the cooler afternoon he was not wearing his signature fur coat and even the sleeves of his flannel shirt had been rolled up to reveal forearms that were covered in an equal amount of hair and sweat. He was followed by a dog that looked like it was half beagle and half awkward. It’s tiny body trying to hold up a head that was at least half ears.

                “It was a nice day and I had some time last week. I might pop in to say hello to Victoire while I’m here. Hagrid, I don’t mean to alarm you, but there is a monstrous beast behind you.”

                Hagrid turned and scooped up the puppy in one of his great hands. The dog immediately attempted to jump to the ground again, but Hagrid’s thick fingers always seemed to be in the way.

                “I guess you haven’t meet Terror. Hermione dropped him by just last month. She said she heard him whining outside and couldn’t think of someone better to keep care of him. She’s very thoughtful, that one.”

                George ruffled the pups hair and was grateful that its teeth hadn’t fully came in. He wiped his hand free from dog slobber on the edge of his coat.

                “I’d heard about Fang, I’m sorry. Hogwarts won’t be a fully safe without him patrolling the grounds.”

                Hagrid’s face was always difficult to read behind his great beard, but his voice became a little more ruff.

                “Ah, well. He was a good old dog. And-“

                “Best dog Hogwarts has ever seen. Think you could spot me some tea for the walk up to the castle? It’s getting pretty cold out here and I think it’ll take a while before my minions report back.”

                Hagrid’s cabin was as warm as ever, though George had only rarely been in it during his time at Hogwarts. Hagrid had always been friends with him while he was at School, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that he had started to see more of him. There had been a couple of times when Hagrid had accompanied George on his trips into the Forbidden Forest. The hut itself was nicer than he remembered, but it was difficult to point to any specific improvements. Everything appeared to be handmade or had numerous patches were repairs had been made over the years. They talked while waiting for the water to boil, neither of them in any hurry.

                Hagrid was always eager to hear about any up and coming details that George was willing to share about pranks that would be released from his shop. Hagrid, like all of the teachers at Hogwarts, had come to dread anything new being produced for sale at the legendary prank shop. The release was usually recognized by a flurry of owls dropping off packages at breakfast table addressed to students with obviously faked names containing flyers that yelled out descriptions of the new products. Hagrid complained how Henry Forte had used a Giant Bubble mix, which was capable of blowing bubbles the size of a house, to search the pond for the Slytherin common room. He ended up finding the giant squid, and Hagrid had to spend the better part of the week stopping the squid from grabbing students and tossing them away from the water when they came too close to the lake out of revenge.

                Laughing, Hagrid pulled the humble iron kettle that had started whistling.

                “I ended up having to feed it a whole cartful of some mackril before it calmed down. It was a nightmare. Ended up making a class out of it, had the fourth years help me. Terror what do you have there?”

                He scooped up his puppy and sat it on the table with a gentleness that belied his massive frame. Terror was busy gnawing at something that was attempting to wiggle free from its mouth. George gripped one the thin silver legs poking out between teeth and slobber and pulled free a metal spider.

                “One of yours?” Hagrid gave Terror a doll that appeared to have seen better days before sitting him back down.

                “Yeah, must have followed me in from the cold.”

                The spider’s right foreleg was bent at an awkward angle, but appeared otherwise uninjured from its altercation with the puppy. George fished out a piece of cloth from a pocket and cleaned it off while inspecting the amber that was set into the back of the spider giving’s its body a bulbous figure. A shifting light from within the amber gave hint to the witchcraft powering the little device.

                “Still haven’t found what you are looking for then, George? Not that it’s any of my business.”

                “It’s alright Hagrid, it’s probable that I’ll never find it. Just a memento from the war. I’ll let you know if I find it. I don’t think any real damage was done to it. No sense in repairing it though, the enchantments don’t even last a night. Speaking of, it’s getting late Hagrid, I’d better head off.”

                “Alright then George, always welcome to stop by. Say hello to Angelina.”

                George took a moment to appreciate how calm and silent the Hogwarts grounds were this late in the evening. Normally there was always the distant sound of some group of students practicing at the quiddich pitch or some other activity on the deep green fields that surrounded the ancient castle. Something that he assumed was an owl swooped overhead and headed off the up the hill towards the owlery. George followed it a short distance, but broke free from the plain dirt path to head back to the forest.

                He grimaced at how loud his footsteps were as he crushed the dry leaves at the feet of trees. The sound disturbed a pair of what looked like deer that had been feeding on some foliage near the clearing. He caught a sight of a white tail bobbing up and down as they fled into the forest. He squinted his eyes into the dark trying to make out the path that they took, he gave up after a moment when he was distracted by a soft clinking from something by his feet.

                A trio of familiar metal spiders were tinking their legs against each other while they scrambled over each other. George scooped one of them up and lit the tip of his wand. A short inspection of the back of the spider showed a deep crimson which sent a thrill through George.

                “Alright you buggers, get going.”

                He tapped the spiders on their red backs which turned the color a mustard yellow and sent them scurrying back into the forest. George immediately regretted how quickly he had made the spiders able to move as they darted between roots and twigs making it difficult for him to keep track of them. He eventually grabbed one and placed a small enchantment on one of the legs that caused it to softly glow. He made quick time through the forest, retracing many nights he had spent out on the grounds with his twin causing mischief having the best time of his life.

                He heard his metallic spiders before he saw them. A swarm of silver, quickly milling on top of itself creating a mound of gleaming legs and red bodies. George spent a second checking his surroundings, being extra careful to check the trees for any of the tell tail traces of webs that would suggest that he had wandered too close to the acromantula hive which was still a nuisance to the forest. He lobbed out a handful of glowing orbs which stuck to the surrounding trees and cast enough pale light so George was confident that nothing could sneak up on him.

                George kneeled over the pack of metal spiders and plunged his hand into the middle of their rioting mass. The spiders easily gave way to him and swirled around his arm, each trying to jockey for position to get closer to the center. He withdrew his hand from the mound of spiders holding a clump of dirt and stones gripped tight. He worked the dirt between his fingers, careful to inspect the stones that fell free. His breath caught in his throat when he finally found what he had spent almost a year searching for, a pale diamond shaped stone. He stood up slowly from where he was kneeling and inspected the stone, turning it this way and that in the light.

                He had spent so many nights searching for the resurrection stone after Harry had mentioned it at Christmas last year. George had obviously known that the Deathly Hallows had been reunited during the great war by Harry, but he had always assumed that they set together in the department of mysteries. It wasn’t until Teddy had started to show interest in having the family go over the story that Harry had casually mentioned that he had lost the stone in the forbidden forest. George had managed to fight the temptation of searching for the stone for a month of two afterwards due to the advice of his wife and Harry, but he had eventually found himself standing at the edge of the forest, wondering if he would ever see his twin again.

                They had always viewed rules as challenges daring to be broken. He quickly realized that he only had a vague idea of where Harry had entered the forest and was left with an intimidating area that he would have to search. The search for a stone barely the size of a knut coin in an area of several acres would have been mind numbing and frustrating. Fortunately, George skilled at breaking the rules in creative ways.

                His younger brother had allowed him free range of the laboratory as soon as he saw that he saw the type of creation he was working on. George would never admit that he had chosen an animal to mimic that Ron was deathly afraid of just so he could have some privacy, but the truth was that he felt like he needed to do this alone. Ron was quite adept at managing the store and had proven himself as a shrewd business partner, however he never showed the same imagination that Fred had when it came to creating new products for their store. It would always be Fred’s store just as much as it was George.

                He thought briefly about waiting to use the stone until sunrise, or at least in a more well lit location, but something about raising the dead in any place besides a dark forest felt wrong. With a grin George turned the stone three times over in his hand.

                Fred Weasley stood before his Twin brother. George was smiling from ear to ear and fought hard against his immediate instinct to embrace his brother. He noticed that Fred was wearing the red suit that he had advocated so strongly for to become their uniform while working at the Weasley Wizardly Wheezes. He tried not to notice the trees that he could see through his brother’s figure.

                “Hullo Fred.” George felt his voice immediately become ruff and his eyes water. So many emotions slammed into him as he relived the untimely loss of his brother and tried to embrace the idea of seeing him again. Fred offered up a smile that would have passed for genuine to their mother, but not to George. He waved a bit, but didn’t come any closer. George assumed that Fred was naturally aware of the stones limitations which prevented speech and physical contact.

                “I know this probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but you aren’t really in any position to lecture me. We should have stuck around for a few of Umbridge’s lectures about ‘how to dodge’.” He paused for the normal, natural follow through on his joke from his brother, but was greeted with another sad, understanding smile. His brother held up both his hands, transparent fingers held up and open towards George.

                “Ten words, no fifteen. Alright go.”

                Fred pointed to his face.

                “Eye.”

                Fred mimed opening something using a tool.

                “Pry open? Oh the thing, a jar? Can. I can…”

                “I” Can” “Say” “That” “I” “Don’t” “Miss” “You”, “But” “You” “Would” “See” “Right” “Through” “Me”.

                A genuine smile drew across Fred as recognition dawned on his brother face. George laughed while wiping burning tears from his face. Something in his chest hurt. He felt like he had torn a bandage off a wound too early even though it had been more than a decade since his Twin's death.

                “I miss you so much.”

                Fred nodded like this was to be expected, like he would be insulted if George had said anything else. Again George extended a pale, empty hand towards his brother. This time it was outstretched, expecting to be filled. Fred took a few steps forward to close the distance between him and his brother and dropped the stone of resurrection in his hand. It passed through his brother and was lost on to the forest floor.

**Author's Note:**

> First time ever, please give me tips on how to post things better here! Thank you for reading!


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